How's that typhoon season coming along? In August, Typhoon Etsau killed 13 people in Japan. Later that week, Typhoon Morakot, Taiwan's worst in 50 years, killed 367 people. Last weekend, Typhoon Ketsana brought the heaviest rain in 40 years to the Philippines, where it killed over 300 people. In Vietnam, Ketsana dumped 3 feet of rain on one province and killed over 100 people. In a day or two, Typhoon Parma will hit the Philippines, and most likely Taiwan shortly thereafter. It is currently clocking winds of 120 knots, faster than Ketsana.

Sure, it's a tricky thing to link single incidents with global warming. Yet these multiplying natural disasters offer more than a hint that something is wrong with the status quo. Potentially very wrong.